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A rectenna is a rectifying antenna, a special type of antenna that is used to convert electromagnetic energy into direct current (DC) electricity. They are used in wireless power transmission systems that transmit power by radio waves. A simple rectenna element consists of a dipole antenna with an RF diode connected across the dipole elements. The diode rectifies the AC current induced in the antenna by the microwaves, to produce DC power, which powers a load connected across the diode. Schottky diodes are usually used because they have the lowest voltage drop and highest speed and therefore have the lowest power losses due to conduction and switching. Large rectennas consist of an array of many such dipole elements. The invention of the rectenna in the 1960s made long distance wireless power transmission feasible. The rectenna was invented in 1964 and patented in 1969〔 ''(Microwave to DC Converter )'' William C. Brown, ''et al'', filed May 5, 1965, granted March 25, 1969〕 by US electrical engineer William C. Brown, who demonstrated it with a model helicopter powered by microwaves transmitted from the ground, received by an attached rectenna. Since the 1970s, one of the major motivations for rectenna research has been to develop a receiving antenna for proposed solar power satellites, which would harvest energy from sunlight in space with solar cells and beam it down to Earth as microwaves to huge rectenna arrays. A proposed military application is to power drone reconnaissance aircraft with microwaves beamed from the ground, allowing them to stay aloft for long periods. In recent years interest has turned to using rectennas as power sources for small wireless microelectronic devices. The largest current use of rectennas is in RFID tags, proximity cards and contactless smart cards, which contain an integrated circuit (IC) which is powered by a small rectenna element. When the device is brought near an electronic reader unit, radio waves from the reader are received by the rectenna, powering up the IC, which transmits its data back to the reader. ==Radio frequency rectennas== The simplest crystal radio receiver, employing an antenna and a demodulating diode (rectifier), is actually a rectenna - although it discards the DC component before sending the signal to the earphones. People living near strong radio transmitters would occasionally discover that with a long receiving antenna, they could get enough electric power to light a light bulb.〔http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~lecturedemonstrations/Composer/Pages/76.09.html〕 However this example uses only one antenna having a limited capture area. A Rectenna uses multiple antennas spread over a wide area to capture more energy. Researchers are experimenting with the use of rectennas to power sensors in remote areas. RF rectennas are used for several forms of wireless energy transfer. In the microwave range, experimental devices already reached a power conversion efficiency of 85-90%.〔Jingwei Zhang and Yi Huang, Rectennas for Wireless Energy Harvesting 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rectenna」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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